STUDIES ON ANTI-IMPLANTATION AND HORMONE ACTIVITY OF YUEHCHUKENE, AN ALKALOID ISOLATED FROM THE ROOT OF MURRAYA PANICULATA

Oral or subcutaneous administration of yuehchukene to female mice at the dosage of 2 or 4 mg/kg.d on day 1/3 of gestation resulted in 100% anti-implantation effect. However, yuehchukene at 4 mg/kg.d was found to have no anti-implantation effect in hamsters. Allen-Doisy test showed that yuehchukene had obvious estrogenic activity. Treatment of immature mice with yuehchukene at the dosage of 2 or 4 mg/kg·d for 3 days caused an increase of uterine weight. Combined use of yuehchukene with estradiol was shown to have synergistic effect on promoting uterine growth. Experiments showed that the estrogenic activity of yuehchukene was weaker than that of estriol. The affinity of this compound for estrogen receptor was also found to be weaker than that of estriol.